1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to outboard motors.
2. Description of the Related Art
There is a type of outboard motor including an oil cooler for cooling oil that circulates inside an engine. For example, Japan Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. 2000-120420 describes an outboard motor in which an oil cooler is disposed forward of a crankshaft of an engine. An oil cooler cooling pipe is connected to a lateral surface of the oil cooler, and is disposed to pass through a lateral side of the engine. Additionally, a water discharge pipe is connected to the front surface of the oil cooler. Cooling water is supplied to the oil cooler through the oil cooler cooling pipe, and is discharged from the oil cooler through the water discharge pipe.
In the above described outboard motor, the water discharge pipe is connected to the front surface of the oil cooler at a position above the bottom surface of the oil cooler, and horizontally extends from the oil cooler. Therefore, when the outboard motor is tilted up after deactivation of the engine, the performance of water discharge from the oil cooler degrades, such that the cooling water is likely to remain inside the oil cooler. This may result in freezing of the cooling water inside the oil cooler. When the engine is restarted under this condition, the flow rate of the cooling water reduces and thus cooling efficiency degrades. Thus, there has been room for improvement regarding a cooling system in the well-known outboard motor.